General

I've never had one before, but I pre-bought the new Ring cam because we have a pretty decent Ring ecosystem investment, and the dual cam seems neat.

Got $50 off for prebuy, then what was it, 20% off or something, for being a Ring subscriber on my home cams.

https://ring.com/products/car-cam

Just logged in, looks like they're supposed to be here within two weeks. Will report back, but I believe early reviews have already gone up elsewhere. I should probably check them out ...

I tried a dashcam 5 or so years ago, but it didn't work out, mainly because my commute took me into the sun both ways, so I had a buttload of solar glare despite a velour dashmat and obsessively cleaning the inside of my windshield. I would guess the technology's gotten better, though, so maybe modern dash cams can handle that. I am curious what other people suggest, since I haven't researched the topic in ages.

I've tried some no-name options and honestly they all kinda seem the same besides the actual recording quality. Some had lots of noise and very poor audio.

I tagged this video to my Favorites list because I knew I'd come back to it at some point. It's pretty thorough and it's been 5 months so some of these options may be cheaper now.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=4AnyhHl3_tE&si=EnSIkaI...

Assuming they're similar tech, I'd like to buy a personal body cam. That way I could record the crazy that goes on in school board meetings.

What’s the main use case for these things? Just curious, never had one or know anyone who does

DrizzDrizzDrizz wrote:

Protection more than anything ... insurance, liability, etc. I've seen some crazy footage on reddit, but I know no one that has one. Knock on wood, never needed one either.

Makes sense, figured it was that but maybe also some additional entertainment reasons haha

Yea, just to cover my ass. In my city there are people who don't understand how yield lanes work. We also have intersections where incoming traffic does not stop and people are unaware how those operate. Figure with a new car it is best to protect myself.

I installed a rearview mirror backup cam so that I could see better out the back of a wagon. I kept it on all the time and it was fantastic. It recorded both forwards and backwards at the same time which was nice.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/5E7j8FGZ5h2Wqddo7

The image quality across the board is similar. Night vision is equally as bad. Mine seems to work alright but you cannot make out license plates at night.

I got the Ring Dashcams today ... they're cool, but not worth it being FHD and not QHD+. Videos look good, but as soon as you zoom in, gets poorly pixelated and can't make out license plates all that well ... which is one of the primary purposes.

Returning.

I ordered the Garmin Dash Cam Mini 2. I got an adapter and wired it directly to the plugs inside my rearview mirror, so you don't even notice it behind my rearview mirror. I popped in a 128gb memory card and I'm pretty happy with it. It has a cloud feature but I prefer having it on the chip (and there's no charge for that or wifi needed.)

Just remember ya'll if you cause an accident they can be used against you too. My insurance agent warned me on that, but I am not worried about me as I'm a pretty safe driver.

sinnie wrote:

Does it also record audio? This looks small enough that I could repurpose it as a bodycam.

ryanflucas wrote:

Yes it does. You can turn it off or on, I leave mine off.

That ring one was my first experience with a cam ... If I were to go buy one now, It has to be QHD/UHD. Should you actually need to rely on the video for an accident and you can't make out the license plate ... oh man how frustrating would that be?!